Indonesia searches for missing cargo plane in easternmost province

Indonesia on Monday launched an operation to search for a missing cargo plane with four crews which lost contact in the nation's easternmost province of Papua.

The cargo plane, a DHC 4 Caribou, lost contact with ground control late Sunday during its flight from town of Timika to Ilaga in the province, head of Indonesia's search and rescue agency Bambang Soelistyo said.

Crews onboard the missing plane were the chief pilot, first officer, engineer and flight operation officer, the officer was quoted by local media as saying.

"Several planes had crisscrossed Jila Pass to check all possibilities, but the area remain blanketed by thick fog, so we are yet to see anything," Johannes Rettob, head of Papua's Mimika regency transportation office said.

Jila Pass was the area suspected as the point where the plane went missing.

With its hilly and forestry geography, planes are the only reliable vehicles to transport people and goods across the province of Papua. However, the very changeable weather there often makes it dangerous for aviation.

The province see frequent air crashes, with the latest one killing 54 people onboard the ATR 42-300 Trigana flight 267 in August last year. Endit